A promise is a promise!

by Nicholas H.

art by Cinched

Propped on one elbow, I gazed through the darkness of the basement and hopelessly tried to recognize the noise that had awakened me. During an entire minute, without daring to move, I strained my ears and stared at pitch-dark room before my breathing eased; ever since Adrian attacked us while sleeping at Tyler’s house, my mind turned any kind of strange sound into a tie up scheme being carried out. Just to know Tyler was still there, I stretched my arm towards the bed on my right and felt his shoulder. On the other side, I was able to touch Chris. They were all there, asleep. No reason to freak out.

I chuckled. I’m getting paranoid.

Once my “tie-dar” returned to normality, I yawned my worries away, turned on my back and pulled the blanket up, drifting myself back to happier, sweeter dreams.

I had barely closed my eyes when I heard it again, this time closer, its echo chiming back in my inner ear! It’d be an understatement to say I just panicked - I almost choked with my heart jumping up my throat!

There were things to worry about!, I realized. All around me lies a bunch of crazy kids who just want a chance to tie each other up. To tie ME up!

  And all of a sudden, before I could react, a hand clamped down firmly over my mouth. “Not again…!” I said with a complaining tone but since my head was pinned against the pillow by his hand, thus effectively closing my lips, it came nothing more than faint ‘mphhhs’ through his fingers. I began struggling, but he had already jumped on my chest and placed a knee on each of my upper arms, further holding me down to the bed. My hands were of no use. I was already expecting loops of rope tighten around my wrists, but instead, the assailant, with his warm right hand still firmly over my lips, passed his left arm under my head, around my neck; he leaned down, his cheek almost touching mine, and whispered in my right ear,

“Shhhh… Calm down, Nick. All I need is a witness.” Boy, that really stunned me! Of course I was relieved to learn I wasn’t going to be tied up, but it was puzzling what Phil – I had recognized his childlike voice – wanted from me. Therefore, I kept still and heard what he had to say.

“Look, I want revenge,” said Phil before he paused to take a breath, “my brother totally humiliated me yesterday, twice, and I’m gonna tie him up. He said he’d do whatever I want if I could capture him. And you bet I’ll get him.
“I need you to come with me and witness I did it all by myself. Okay?” I hesitated for a moment.

“Please?” His begging made me feel pity: I knew this would be the only way he could possibly do it. Adrian was much stronger and skilled; the little lean boy had neither the strength nor the guts to fight his big brother in normal circumstances.

“Mmphh mphhmm…” I nodded the best I could, my head still well secured between his arms.

“Thanks,” he said with a grateful blink and removed his hand.

“Wow, you have me really pinned down here. I can’t move at all!” I said, careful not to raise my voice.

“Well, when you have a brother who thinks you are his wrestling puppet to practice new moves everyday, you sure learn some stuff, whether you want it or not!” he whispered with a smile. I laughed.

“Wasn’t it simpler just to ask?”

“Nah, I like this way better and – “

“Yeah, I know: ‘kidnapping is more fun’. Jeez, you are just like your brother.” He laughed back at me.

For a moment it seemed that Phil took me for a very comfortable stool.

“So… can you get off me now?”

“Oh, sure. Sorry.”

We both stood and he lit a little lantern.

“This way,” he motioned illuminating a spot. Soon, on the other side of the room, we reached a single bed where a shirtless Adrian lay on his back - a perfect position.

“There’s nothing to worry about. One thing I know fo­­r sure is that my brother sleeps like a rock,” Phil pointed out. Without more ado, Phil gently lifted the boy’s lean arms, while I assisted with the lantern, and he held them by the wrists above Adrian’s head. He proceeded to cross and bind them (an impressive knot work I must say) using a long coil of rope he had taken out of his pocket, then leashing to the head post, exposing Adrian’s bare ribs, armpits and belly. The captor had the blanket removed – so his legs could be tied – and when I passed the light on them, I learned Adrian had also no shorts on. Funny, they even wore the same clothing in bed, a simple pair of boxers; but I quickly dismissed the idea of Phil being one of those pesky little brats who look up to their older sibling’s and want to become their clones. No chance. Not if Adrian is your older brother.

 Next, Phil resorted to another length of rope which was used to tie Adrian’s ankles in parallel, first horizontal loops and then vertical ones, and finally cinched so the rope tightened around them. Like his hands, Adrian’s feet were lashed and secured to the lower post of the bed.

During the whole ordeal, I did nothing but hold the lantern and witness with delight the way my blond friend was snugly bound.

I was amazed by how someone could sleep through that. And what’s even worse, to have your extremities moved and tied without even feeling a thing! Fortunately - or not -, I’ve never had the chance of waking up to find myself bound, for even sounds as loud as a whisper interrupt my sleep.

 I’ve got to say it, for the record – or just in case Adrian reads this: Phil did all the work. I swear over… uh… the Flying Spaghetti Monster! (sorry, I couldn’t resist). Honestly. He knew everything that was to be done in order to effectively immobilize his brother. When he was satisfied and had re-checked the knots, the small boy approached, proud of his deed, and said,
“Okay, I’m done. Let’s wake him up.” I sat on the bed next to Adrian and focused the light straight on his closed eyes, something you all know is extremely irritating. He did not respond, so I shook him gently and whispered,
“Adrian…Adrian…C’mon, wake up.” The boy wetted his lips as he opened them, and yawned,
“Wots the matter?” He got no reply, so Adrian opened his eyes.

“Hey! Put that thing away from my fa­ce-” He suddenly stopped. Adrian had tried to cover himself with his hand but he sensed a jerk from above his head. Again the boy pulled, seemingly not knowing what was happening, why his arms weren’t responding, and struggled against the ropes. But Phil proved having done an outstanding job; the bonds kept Adrian’s body stretched and despite all the twisting the captive was making, the cord gave no slack. Eventually he realized, just lay still, and said obviously annoyed,
“Haha. Very funny Nick.”

I smiled. “Don’t look at me! I had nothing to do with this”, I said and paused, “he forced me to come here!” I moved my head where Phil was. The boy stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself to his captive who had now a “what the hell?!” expression on his face.

“Yeah bro. It’s me,” Phil said.

“Remember that little promise you made? No? Can’t remember? That one where you’d be my slave if I could tie you up? Well, there you are!”

“No way! That’s not fair, I was sleeping!” Adrian whined.

“It doesn’t matter, Adrian. I saw it, he did it all by himself.” I shrugged with a smirk and the bound boy stared fiercely at us.

“And what if I just don’t accept it?” Adrian cunningly claimed.

“But you’ll have to, dear brother,” Phil answered patting his cheek, “or I‘ll be forced to wake them up.” He waved a hand across the room full of boys.

“And I’m sure they’ll be extremely happy to get a chance to take good vengeance for what you did to them last night. Maybe they’ll tickle you to death, or just until your underwear changes colors, depending on their mood.” Phil ran a finger down his brother’s taut skin, eliciting angry giggles. He then smiled triumphantly.

Check mate. I was deeply impressed by how Phil had planned this beforehand, splendidly trapping his prey by blocking all possible means of escape! – only resignation left. He had waited for the perfect moment to attack, when everyone was against Adrian, where he had to choose between serving his brother or a much crueler fate. Humiliation or pain. And the fear of the unknown is what people are most afraid of.

Adrian pondered for a long while, exchanging glances with his brother, but he knew there was no escape.  

“Do I really have to do this?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Come on, Phil. You’re my little brother, how can you do this to me?” For a second I almost felt sorry for him – almost! Phil did not utter a word. Adrian, turning to me with pleading green eyes, he whispered,
“Nick?”

“Sorry. A promise is a promise,” I answered. Adrian’s heart sank and he heaved a sigh of resignation.

“All right… I’ll do it.”

A big grin appeared on the small boy’s smooth face and didn’t go away, such was his happiness from getting his brother at last. Only then did I realize how bad Phil wanted this, possibly a huge desire of just retribution for all these accumulated years of powerlessness. I could see it in his eyes, which glimmered in excitement, and by the way he had talked, carefully choosing the words to menace his prisoner with. I would’ve not been surprised if he started doing a choreographically rehearsed victory dance.

“Only if you promise not to-mppppphhhhffff!” Adrian never finished. Phil cut him off and unceremoniously shoved a large wadded cloth deep inside the poor boy’s mouth. A line of cloth was forced between Adrian’s teeth and tied off sufficiently tight behind his head. My blond friend almost couldn’t make a sound through his gag.

 “You must be tired Adrian, we’ll let you sleep. I’m gonna leave you like this because I don’t want my little slave going nowhere while I rest. Okay?”

Adrian just whimpered and mphhhed in response.

“Don’t worry, we’ll wake you up for breakfast,” Phil said.

Adrian’s look was like, “yeah, thanks.”

Because of the way Adrian was tied, he could only remain all stretched up, which was quite uncomfortable. I had to hold myself not to brush my fingers over his exposed taut tanned skin; his body was asking to be tickled! We watched Adrian squirm and writhe furiously, but to no avail. I shook my head at him, an unspoken advice not to struggle, for it would only make it worse. I patted his chest for good luck and stood up.

We started walking again towards my side of the room. It must have been around 3 am, so as drowsy as I was all I wanted was to lie in bed and get some rest. Phil illuminated the way.

“I wanted to thank you Nick. I wouldn’t have done it without you.”

“No problem. Anytime you want,” I answered, laughing at the silliness of what I had just said.

“But there’s one thing left…,” he began.

“What?”

 I whirled too late, a knee on my back pinned me hard on the bed, while a hand powerfully twisted my right wrist behind my back and another one silenced me.  

“You’re still my kidnapped boy,” he whispered.

Then Phil – hereinafter the Traitor - went on taking off my socks, and I could already feel the dirty wad in my mouth, but instead of gagging me with them, he inserted each one of my hands into one of the long wool garments. I was puzzled by this unexpected new use, but I should have known better; these boys knew what they were doing when it came to securing someone and keeping them that way. I squirmed and wiggled trying to escape, but Phil’s grip held. My wrists were crossed and he began winding turns of rope firmly around them, allowing no precious slack for struggling. When he was finished, I understood the purpose of the socks. I could not flex my fingers! The socks were pulled down and throttled by the rope at the wrists, therefore my hands were useless and no matter where he had tied the knot off, it was impossible for me to pick it with my fingers. The advantage, however, was that my skin wouldn’t get the usual red rope burns being padded like this. Phil did not intend to secure only my arms, and advanced to tie my feet in an exact manner, opening my knees wide apart and rising the legs. This would invariably lead to a hogtie, which proved to be truthful when a third coil’s end was tied at the wrists and the other at the ankles. It arched my back a little and the ropes were tight, yet it didn’t hurt or cut off circulation. At this stage - and after being tied up enough times by these kids-, I knew struggling was as fruitful as wishing Zorro came to my rescue.

“I’m so sorry Nick, but I can’t risk my brother being freed. You’re the only one, for the moment, who knows about it. I couldn’t sleep knowing there’s someone that can untie Adrian,” said Phil somehow apologizing. When he had me trussed up nice and was sure I wouldn’t escape without assistance, he leaned down and whispered,
“Because you helped me, and well… I’m also short of gag supplies, I’m not gagging you.” I heaved a sigh of relief.

 “But if you make one sound, any kind of sound at all, I swear I’ll gag you with my underwear if I have to,” snapped Phil. “I’m not losing Adrian… Good night.” He covered me with the blanket and walked away, as I heard the footsteps fade and the lantern turn off.

I could understand his irresistible desire to subdue his brother, but Phil had gone absolutely insane! He even betrayed me, that little rat, after I helped him do it. On the other hand, I concluded I would have probably done the same thing if I were him.

Moral of the story: watch out for pissed off little brothers. No matter how much of a wimp you think they are, they’ll find a way to get you back (and above all don’t make things easier for them by making stupid promises you’ll regret afterwards).

I got as comfortable as I could, resting my head on the pillow, tried to forget I was hogtied, and in a few minutes was dead to the world.